01:790:103 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: George Tsebelis, Rent-Seeking, Party System

• School: Rutgers University
• Department: Political Science
• Course: 01:790:103
• Professor: Barea Sinno

Document Summary

Week 4: chapter 5: governing intuitions in democracies. Institutions- are a set of formal or informal norms that prescribe as political actors. Political accountability- refers to the responsibility or obligation of government officials to act in the best interest of society and face consequences. Public officials should be held responsible for their actions legal accountability concerns the mechanisms by which public officials can be held liable for actions that go against established rules and principles. Vertical accountability- are those in which citizens and their associations play direct roles and holding powerful to account. Examples are elections there are informal processes through which citizens organize themselves into associations capable of lobbying governments and the private service providers demanding explanations and threatening fewer formal sanctions like negative publicity. Horizontal accountability- consist of formal relationship within the state itself where one state actor has a formal authority to demand explanations or impose penalties on another.